Celebrate, Remember, Reflect

Happy Birthday to my three little ones!

It really is such a bittersweet day. Ben, Maddie, and Jon started life 3 months early weighing 3 pounds, 2 pounds 15 ounces, and 2 pounds 11 ounces, respectively. They started on breathing machines, feeding tubes, IV drips, and blood transfusions. They started in little clear boxes with more wires and tubes connected to their tiny bodies than any of my appliances have. The bitter part is remembering back to those days -- the toughest three months of their lives, of MY life, those three NICU months. The next nine months were a blur, and I don't remember much of it. I remember the feeding cycles - change, feed, burp Ben (20 minutes); change, feed, burp Maddie (30 minutes); change, feed, burp Jon (45 minutes); grab a glass of water, go potty, pump (20 minutes); have about an hour to choose one or more of these: sleep, eat, play with Will, shower. That cycle was repeated every three hours. I don't know how we got through it... like I said, I don't remember much.

But look at how SWEET it is now! The feeding cycle has been replaced by the everyday taxi-cycle - feed them, take them to school, pick them up, feed them again, feed them again. The assembly lines of our home once were prepping 27 bottles, changing three sets of diapers and clothes. When they were eating baby food, we still did dinner assembly-line style: popping the spoon into one mouth, dipping it in the peas, popping it into mouth #2, dipping in the peas, popping it in mouth #3, repeat, repeat, repeat. Strangely, we still use assembly lines as we prepare lunches for school - making 20 sandwiches at a time, scooping out 20 baggies of goldfish crackers, making 20 baggies of fruit; we do this once a week so that mornings go more smoothly. We still often [sort of] line up all our kiddos to sign school papers, pass out allowance, comb hair, wipe faces, and give them good-bye kisses and hugs. This is our life now.

These kindergarteners are HEALTHY!! and oh what a miracle that is! These three are loving, sweet, and over-the-top silly. They are ornery, stubborn, yet fairly easy-going. They are individuals - Ben loves science, rough-housing, and cuddling; Maddie loves art, dolls, and reading; Jon loves building, helping, and games. Our children do not have the learning disabilities, the deafness (though, I do wonder at times), the vision problems, and so many of the other issues that are common to micropreemies. So today is a day of celebration for our family. Today we celebrate the births of these three precious children. Today we celebrate the milestones they've crossed and the ones we have survived. Today we celebrate these three living miracles of God. Today we celebrate how far THEY have come since those first fragile days. Today we celebrate how far God has brought Allen and me in this crazy journey of parenthood. Today we celebrate, remember, and reflect!

Happy sixth birthday, Ben!
Happy sixth birthday, Maddie!
Happy sixth birthday, Jon!

Typical Afternoon

This is often what our weekday afternoons are like:

• sunny
• kids playing outside
• kids on swings
• kids playing ball or frisbee or both
• kids wearing play clothes, school clothes, pajamas

Will gets out of school at noon and works on homework until it is time to get the younger bunch just before three o'clock. When we get home, there is mass chaos -- backpacks all over the place with the contents exploding from within, lots of whining for a snack, sometimes a few tears that there is laundry to fold. After everyone settles down a bit, Will finishes up the last bit of homework and the kids head outside or upstairs to play together for a couple hours. THIS is what I love to see!!

A Party for [Almost] Six-Year Olds

These three precious children had their first friends-invited (not just family) birthday party today... and we all survived the mild chaos. Several weeks ago, I searched for answers to how to handle a triplet party. I didn't want the friends' parents to feel like they had to bring three gifts. I didn't want anyone embarrassed for not knowing they were triplets (embarrassment if they were the only ones who didn't bring three gifts). I didn't really want three times the toys to have to keep reminding the kids to take care of. It turns out I didn't find the chapter in Emily Post's book on the proper etiquette for such a circumstance. The most challenging part of it was that the kids were wanting to invite friends from school, and I hadn't met the parents, yet, so I couldn't just call to clumsily explain the situation. In the end, we decided to let each of the kiddos invite two friends, and I enclosed a note in the invitation that said, "Dear Parents of New Friends, Ben, Maddie, and Jon will be celebrating their birthday together. We are allowing each of them to have two guests, rather than inviting all their classmates. Gifts are not necessary, but if you would like to bring a gift, please just bring one for (filled in one name). We look forward to meeting the children we hear so much about." (I'm posting this because many friends of multiples asked me to share how I handled it. I will take other suggestions for next year, though.)

This idea worked for the most part. Each of them sent two invitations, but had a third person in mind in case we got a "no" early in the game. One mom did call immediately because they couldn't come, so Jon was able to get the other invitation out, and two of his friends were there. Maddie and Ben each invited an "old" (aka: known before school started) friend and a new one, but not everyone came. Gramma and Granddad came for the day, and some of the friends' siblings came, so Will had a good friend there to play with, too. We chose to host the party at the park so I wouldn't have to come up with lots of party games (I don't like them), or maybe I really didn't want to have to make sure the house was perfectly clean... twice (before and after the party.)

Except for the wind, the day was beautiful! Not too hot, not too cold. The wind was brisk enough that we finally took all the balloons to the car, and I don't think the kids got to blow out candles because the wind kept doing that for them. I decorated a cupcake the way each requested: Ben chose astronauts, Maddie wanted Pocahontas, Jon wanted Spiderman. Did you know there aren't any plates and napkins designed to fit all three of those themes? We just went with bright party colors -- it worked. The kids played hard for several hours. They graciously opened gifts and thanked everyone for their kindness, presence, and presents. They were polite to each other and all their friends. It was really such a perfect day!

Pileated Woodpecker

Today was pretty enough that all my windows were open. As I was reading, I heard a bird call that I didn't recognize, so I started looking for what I heard. I was amazed to look out the kitchen window and see this beauty in the tree. I didn't recognize the huge (about the size of a crow) woodpecker, but I always have my bird guide nearby, and I quickly discovered it was a Pileated Woodpecker. I snapped a few photos for proof that I saw this somewhat rare-to-see bird.

Mom & Me Camp

Will and I just returned from another Mom & Me weekend campout with Cub Scouts. We were really cold, but we had so much fun that it was worth all the shivering.

We left home at 6:30 am Saturday and headed for McDonalds for our traditional egg McMuffin for the road. We drove east and got to the camp at 8:00, then hiked our stuff to our campsite. After quite a bit of talk about where to set up our tent, we chose a spot, cleared the sticks, and set up our tent. Our old two-person tent will likely be retired this week since several of the poles have cracked. Thankfully, I was prepared with a first aid kit that had enough band-aids to tape them together enough to keep the tent up. Also, both zippers on the door have broken -- we were able to get in and out, just not easily. I either had to fight the fabric flap to open it and shut it, or we squeezed through a half open door. We weren't sure if the tent would be waterproof or not, but since it didn't end up raining on us, it didn't matter....this time.

As we were setting up the inside of our tent, I gave Will this special quilt I made him. Though he chose most of the flannel fabrics awhile back, he didn't realize I had been working on the quilt when he was at school. He was thrilled to get his quilt for his scout patches. It was the perfect warmth for the cold night, too!

After setting up our little home, we helped a few other moms and boys with theirs, then we got to do the fun stuff. Our den had four boys and moms there, but we sometimes participated with some of the other kids from our pack (who were 1st, 2nd, or 4th graders). First, we hit the chess station and the boys learned to play chess. Will already had that belt loop, but we made sure his friends learned enough about the game to earn theirs, too. The boys all already had the marbles loop, too, but they stopped to play for a bit anyway. We headed down for the BB gun range since we missed that last year, but we had to pass on the archery (sadly) because the line was so long. Will and I both got off a few great shots with the BB gun, but then we learned it wasn't actually shooting. The bad news is we had no proof that we were aiming so well. The good news is we had no proof we were not aiming so well.

We had an hour or so between activities and lunch, and our camp group decided to build a fire circle. We got permission from the ranger to rebuild one (the previous one was wiped out by some downed trees). So, from nothing, we swept clear an area for the fire rings. The boys helped gather the right size logs (also from the downed trees) to make a fire ring and an outer ring to sit on and mark the caution zones. It was really fun for me to watch the boys figure out how to work together to move some large logs that were short enough that only two boys could carry them, but they were too heavy for two boys to carry. They used their brains, their muscle, their friends to create a really awesome seating area for all of us -- the moms patted them on the backs and congratulated them on some great work!

After lunch, we had another round of activities. The boys and moms played softball and volleyball (I'm quite sore from a lot of hard running). We launched bottle rockets -- that was definitely fun, but the water mist made us colder. Will's bottle ended up at the top of a huge pine tree, but he was excited to do it all again. The boys worked on the music belt loop and did a few crafts before we headed back to our campsite.

Our afternoon filled up pretty fast. One of my peeves is that our pack (or others) never taught/teaches the boys fire safety. It frustrates me to no end to have campfire with a bunch of uneducated parents, boys, and siblings and a lot of accidents waiting to happen. So, after I discussed that with the moms (and several from our group already knew my opinion on it), we used part of our hour-and-a-half of free time to teach. All the boys (at our campsite) and moms gathered around the newly built fire circle and we talked about why we built it with three circles. We talked about fire safety rules inside the circle, about not throwing stuff into the fire, about how to keep ourselves and each other safe. It was much easier talking to the kids in the daylight before they were tired and fascinated by flames. After we were fairly certain they understood the safety rules, we talked about what we needed to build a fire -- the tinder, kindling, and fuel. We talked about how to find all those without destroying nature, then we broke into four teams to gather tinder, kindling, fuel logs, and water. After we had a healthy supply ready, we showed them how to build a log-cabin style fire (without adding the flames yet.)

After dinner, we went to the big campfire ceremony. Several leaders and Boy Scouts did some skits and recognitions and retired an American flag. We got permission to light fires at our individuals camps (due to wind, we weren't sure we'd be allowed to light ours.) When we got back, we tried to light it, but the first match didn't get the wood hot enough. The second through twelfth matches didn't light, and several boys started heckling the four of us moms working on lighting it. It was really frustrating when a dad from our group (there helping staff the event) boasted that if he was in charge he would already have a big fire. I bit my tongue before commenting he was welcome to do the fire while we all headed to bed early. He left. We found a lighter and had a beautiful fire -- the perfect size! It was starting to fade just as we finished the bag of marshmallows. It was barely glowing when moms started telling boys to get ready for bed. It really went well -- no one got hurt, a lot of kids learned how to have a safe campfire, and all the moms and boys worked together to pull it off. I, again, was asked to consider being the safety officer for the pack. I, again, am considering it because I like teaching the kinds of lessons that matter.

Will and I talked for awhile before we fell asleep. I really do enjoy the times in the car -- just the two of us -- the times in the tent, and the times we are working together to set up the tent. We have such special moments of shared triumph! ... taking down the tent and packing up after a late night of being cold and sleeping on the ground, well... that part wasn't so fun, but we survived! :)

Bright and Early Adventures: Day 5 (8/24/12)

Today I woke up all the kids early (our four plus Will's friend Kaleb). We ate breakfast and got in the car for about an hour's drive to Longview. The whole way there, at least three of the kids were complaining that the ride was so long. I kept the music on to keep my mood light, but I was a bit frustrated before our fun even began. Once we got to the park, the kids all ran to the playground and told me the ride was definitely worth it!

After the kids played for awhile, we all worked together to fill a trash bag with litter we found around the park -- calling it our good deed for the day. The kids played until lunchtime, while I read and tried to keep up with them.

We headed to the Garden for the Blind for our picnic lunch. The garden was interesting -- it was next to a pond with a fountain (which had sound), there was a small babbling brook (sound), one section of the garden had fragrant roses and other strongly-scented plants (smell), another section had different textured plants like lamb's ear (touch), and another had herbs that I let the kids pinch to taste (taste). We talked about how many gardens are visually-stimulating, but that this was created for the other senses so that blind people could enjoy it. After lunch, the kids were exhausted... getting grumpier by the minute... and some had trouble keeping their eyes open. I changed our afternoon plans and skipped the museum. They needed naps -- all five of them! We got back in the car around 1:00pm, came home, and the kids played nicely until dinnertime.

Bright and Early Adventures: Day 4 (8/23/12)

I suppose it is only normal that one of our days wouldn't work out quite like I planned. I took the kids to the space museum and planetarium today. The plan was to get to the museum about forty minutes before the dome-screen movie began so we would have time before lunch to see the exhibits. What I didn't know was that the museum was deconstructing the exhibit and building the one that is supposed to open Sunday night. Thankfully, it was a pretty day, so the kids got to run around and see the sundial and planetary pavement art while we waited for their friends to arrive for the movie. We watched a movie in the planetarium -- it was about two kids who built a cardboard rocket in a refrigerator box. The kids spend the night in the box and end up exploring all the planets. Though our kids enjoyed the movie, when we got in the car afterwards, the bad attitudes began so I cancelled our afternoon plan (which was to go with our friends and get several appliance boxes for the kids to play in and redesign.) We headed home and tried to rest for a bit before I took Will back to his friend's so I could take Ben, Maddie, and Jon to meet their teachers.

The little kids were so excited to meet their teachers and visit their new school. Since Allen was out of town for the day, I was really glad to have the Browns help with Will. It took several trips from the car to get all the school supplies inside. The first classroom we came to was Jon's class. He has Mrs. Sprague this year. He found his desk and read the other kids' names. He, Maddie, and Ben set about to explore all the stations in the classroom, but the kitchen are seemed to be their favorite. Mrs. Sprague offered to keep an eye on them while I unloaded the supplies from my trunk. They all got pretty comfortable with her classroom.

Right next to Jon's classroom was Maddie's. Mrs. Maschal is her teacher this year and Maddie loves her already! Maddie read a parent-note to her teacher, and she was invited to be the teacher-helper since she is already reading so well. Maddie beamed!... then talked about it all...day...long!

Right next to Maddie's class is Ben's. He was a little bit nervous at first, but Ms. Dillard is really nice, so I'll bet it all goes well. He warmed up a bit more when I pointed out that his clothes matched his teacher's. Somehow, I lost Jon as we walked the few inches from Maddie's class to Ben's, and I left Ben and Maddie playing with mini dinosaurs while I searched for Jon. I eventually found him back in Mrs. Sprague's class -- he was confused why I expected him to be in Ben's class when he had his own.

We spent about an hour at the elementary school, then I went to get Will from Kaleb's home. I brought Kaleb home with us, since his siblings had meet-the-teacher later that evening. Will and Kaleb were excited to get a bit more time to play together since he stayed overnight.

Our adventures are still fun, but this week is wearing all of us out! I hope that we soon adjust to the new wake up and go-to-bed times. One more day till the weekend...